


Ruby Red

by infernalstars



Series: Neil Loves Dinosaurs [11]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Autistic Neil Josten, Happy Andrew Minyard, M/M, Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard Adopt, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, neil loves dinos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26779918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infernalstars/pseuds/infernalstars
Summary: Adopting one kid was always apart of the plan, but another kid...? Unplanned.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Series: Neil Loves Dinosaurs [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872259
Comments: 4
Kudos: 148





	Ruby Red

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! 
> 
> this ones pretty soft and wholesome and emotional?? 
> 
> i hope you all like ruby !! i have some stuff planned with the other foxes in this universe soon !
> 
> enjoy <33

Let the record show that fostering another kid was Andrew’s idea. Adopting both of them was Neil’s. 

Neil was still in shock about it all. 

The last few months were a blur. Neil watched as Henry helped Ruby swim across the pool. 

Andrew sat under the umbrella, arms crossed over his chest. His face gave away nothing, but Neil knew in the way he watched, the slight curve of his lips when Ruby squealed in delight that he was happy. 

She yelled for Andrew to “Look! Look! I’m swimming!” Andrew said something Neil couldn’t hear from inside. 

He scooped up the papers he was grading and carried them outside. He sat down next to Andrew. 

“Ah look, it’s Professor Josten,” Andrew hummed, watching him dump the papers on the table. 

Ruby squealed for their attention as Henry let her swim to the stairs. Ruby climbed out of the pool rushing over to Andrew. 

“Papa!” 

Ruby paused in her tracks, waiting for Andrew to give her the okay. Andrew opened up his arms and she jumped up into his lap soaking wet. 

“Did you see that daddy?” she asked Neil. “Henry taught me to swim.” 

Henry was climbing out of the pool, grabbing a second towel for Ruby. 

“Yeah, I did. You did good,” Neil said, clicking his pen. 

“What’re you doing?” 

“Work,” Neil said, making a face. 

Ruby mimicked his face, a disgusted face. She then fell into a fit of giggles, leaning against Andrew’s chest. His arms curled around her in a protective manner. 

Ruby represented different things for all of them. 

For Andrew it was the childhood he never got. Full of joyful laughter in a safe home. He envied her innocence. Neil saw it in the faint smile on his lips when she played with her dolls in the living room or skipped around wherever she went. 

For Neil it was family. He hadn’t had anything close to a family before the foxes. He had that now. He had a husband, a daughter and a son. Two cats. A home with a fucking pool. He had a family. 

For Henry, it was a second chance. Ruby would never replace his sister, but it was like the Universe decided it wasn’t his fault and gave him a family. Ruby absolutely adored him and Henry would do anything for her. 

Ruby leaned over the table grabbing a grape from the table. Henry handed Andrew a towel for Ruby and sat down across from Neil. 

“What’re the papers on?” 

“The impact of Jurassic Park and it’s misconceptions,” Neil said, circling an incorrect fact in one essay. He jot down the correct information. 

“Jurassic Park is inaccurate?” Henry asks. 

Andrew made a choking noise. 

Neil dropped his pen. 

“That’s a banned sentence,” Andrew hummed, drying off Ruby’s hair. She giggled, swatting his hands away. 

She brushed her hair back out of her eyes. 

“There are so many inaccuracies in Jurassic Park!” Neil said, absolutely shocked. 

Henry glanced at Andrew who shrugged. 

“Okay, so--” 

-

FOUR MONTHS EARLIER

“Another kid,” Neil hummed thoughtfully. 

He looked over at Andrew. Andrew looked at him expectantly. He waited for an answer. Neil knew that Andrew would accept either answer.

He thought about what they’d been through already with Henry. How worth it it had been. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. 

Neil smiled. 

“I think it’s worth a shot.”

“A younger kid,” Andrew said. 

“Will you be okay—“

“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I wasn’t certain.” 

Neil nods knowing this is perfectly true. He rolled, curling into Andrews arms. 

“We have to talk to Henry.” 

“I'll take care of it.”

—

Andrew sat down across from Henry at the kitchen table. Arms crossed. 

Henry looked up his phone. He set it down and crossed his arms right back. Like father like son, as they say. 

“Neil and I have been talking,” Andrew hummed. 

“Glad to hear it.”

“Jesus, you spend too much time with him, let me finish,” Andrew sighed. Like father like son. “We talked about adopting you.”

“Are you serious?”

“Why would I lie about that?”

“Andrew!” Henry said, starting to get up. He froze. “Can I hug you?”

Andrew thought for a moment. He nodded. Henry leapt up and hugged him. It was good, it felt safe. 

“And,” Andrew said. “We thought about fostering another kid. Since you’re here to stay, we want to run it by you.” 

“Another kid,” Henry said quietly. He hummed thoughtfully. “That’d be okay with me.” 

Andrew nods. He starts getting up. Henry leans forward.

“You guys are great parents, you know?” 

Andrew just stared at him, going up to his and Neil’s room. He sat down on the bed and let the tears fall. Neil emerged from the shower halfway dressed for work. He froze, dropping his towel. 

“‘Drew? Baby,” he said quietly, moving to kneel in front of him. He didn’t touch. He waited. 

“He said we’re great parents,” Andrew whispered. “I couldn’t stop them.” 

He gestured to the tears on his face. He sniffled. 

“Bee says that now that I’ve opened myself up more, stuff like this is going to happen a lot,” he wiped under his eyes. “I fucking hate it.” 

“Crying is healthy, you know?” 

“You sound just like her,” Andrew laughed. 

Andrew saw the way his eyes lit up at the sound. It was a cold dead laugh like when they were in school. It was happy. 

He reached over and gently cupped Neil’s face. He traced the burns under his eyes where a big bold number four used to be. Neil leaned into his touch. His eyes fluttered closed. 

“Happy tears,” Neil said quietly, turning to kiss his wrist. 

Andrew nodded. “Happy tears.” 

-

Ruby sat on the floor with Sir and King, gently petting them. She’d been quiet since she got there. 

Andrew stood across the room from her. He just watched. 

She looked up at him suddenly and pat the spat next to her. He hesitated and moved to sit next to her. She pet the cats in quiet contentment. Andrew watched as Sir moved into his lap and curled into a ball. 

“Why are they called Sir and King if they’re not boys,” Ruby asked quietly. It was the most she’d really spoken to him since she moved in. 

Andrew was stunned for a minute for two reasons. One: she spoke to him. Two: was he about to explain the gender binary to a five year old? 

“Nicky named them,” he said quietly. 

“Nicky?” 

“My cousin,” he said quietly. “You’ll meet him eventually.” 

Ruby nods and plays with the cats a bit more. 

Andrew just watched. Neil had been great with her thus far: helping her get dressed for school, watching her shows with her. And Ruby really liked Henry. She followed him around the house like a lost puppy. 

“You’re quiet,” she said, looking up at him. She met his eyes. 

She was so small next to him. 

“So are you, Ruby,” he hummed. Ruby smiled. “I don’t like to waste my words. Words are very powerful.” 

She tilted her head. 

“You’ll understand someday.” 

She returned her attention to the cats. She reached out for the cat curled up in his lap. Andrew jerked away and she pulled her hand back. 

“Sorry,” Andrew said quietly. “Sorry. You can pet her.” 

Ruby reached out for the cat and pet her. 

“Do you love Neil?” she asks suddenly. 

Andrew looked at her funny. “Of course I do.” 

“You don’t act like my mommy did with her boyfriend.” 

Andrew raised an eyebrow. “How did they act?”

Andrew suspected it wasn’t healthy. Ruby’s mother's boyfriend had been a drug dealer and their house had housed some interesting characters. Ruby’s mother lost her rights when Ruby missed a week of school and her mother overdosed. 

Her neighbors found her when she almost burned the house down trying to cook for herself. He eyed the scars of Ruby’s hand from the stove. 

Ruby shrugged. “They kissed a lot. They spent a lot of time together, you guys don’t. He touched her a lot too. He loved her so much.”

“You don’t have to kiss all the time to be in love. Neil and I love each other very much,” he assured her. 

“Andrew?” Henry’s voice called out, he came rushing down the stairs.

Andrew looked at him. “That’s me.” 

“Neil wants--needs--Can you just go upstairs?” 

Andrew nudged the cat off his lap and into Ruby’s. Ruby watched him go. 

Andrew made his way upstairs. Neil was kneeling with a box in his hand.

“We’re already married, dumbass,” he deadpanned. 

Neil opened up the box. “I know. We never got rings.” 

“We agreed we didn’t need them.” 

Andrew took the box into his hands. Then he saw it on the inside of the band. Neil and Henry’s names. His breath hitched. 

“If Ruby is here to stay we can add hers too,” he said quietly. 

“You’re a sap, you know.” 

Neil shrugged. “For you I am. Besides, today is our anniversary. I don’t want to leave Ruby, but I still wanted to do something special.” 

“Our anniversary. Which one?” 

When they first became a real couple? Their first ‘I love you’? Their wedding? The first time they were able to go all the way? 

He knew Neil remembered them all. He never failed to remind him of those days. 

“Wedding. Seven years.” 

“Seven,” he said breathlessly. 

He slipped the ring on his finger, noticing Neil’s matching ring. He felt like he was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. Seven years being married and how many years before that. How did he get so lucky? 

Neil looked down at him. “‘Drew?” 

“I love you,” Andrew blurted. 

Neil smiled. “I love you too.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever thanked you.”

Neil looked confused. “What for?”

“Absolutely everything,” Andrew said. He held his eyes. 

Neil tilted his head. “You don’t have to thank me for anything.” 

“I wouldn’t want to do this...raise a family, live this life without you,” Andrew said. “I’m not good with words, I’m not. I didn’t even...I can’t...You’re just perfect. I love you.”

“Yes?” Neil asked. 

Andrew nods. Neil kisses him like his life depends on it. He pulls back. 

“Ruby doesn’t think we love each other.” 

“Well she’s five. The hell does she know,” Neil laughs. 

Andrew shook his head. “You’re great with her.” 

“She’s adjusting. She’ll open up to you.” 

Andrew nods, kissing him again. He holds him close. 

They had their family. It would take time but they would get there.

-

_That night Ruby curled up in his arms while they watched a movie. She fell asleep holding onto Andrew. She fell asleep, absolutely adoring him. ___

__-_ _

__Henry sat down next to Ruby._ _

__She frowned, playing with the cats. “An’rew left,” she said sadly._ _

__“Yeah. He’ll be back. He always comes back,” he assured her. “Want to watch a movie?”_ _

__She shook her head no. “I miss my mommy.”_ _

__He opened his mouth to say something. He didn’t know how to comfort that. There was a flash of blood behind his eyes. His heart skipped a beat._ _

__“Ruby...I’m sorry.”_ _

__She crawled into his arms and hugged him._ _

__Henry closed his eyes. He’d protect her in ways that he could never protect his sister._ _

__-_ _

__Ruby represented something different for all of them. But they would all love her with all the love they could muster._ _


End file.
